2012 ...an update.

An Update at Last!

After ages I am finally updating this Grass Tree Blog!

My many plants have been happily growing  in

 their pots and I have just now planted the two

 I bought  at a garage sale into my garden.

These 2  plants were the ones  which originally

  gave me the idea to try and grow some plants 

from the seeds of  the already established

Grass Tree  No.1 growing in my front garden.

The plants to the left and at rear are GT No 5 & 6 

the one in front is a seedling I grew.

Grass Tree No.6 

Some sugar cane mulch around the base to keep the soil moist!

Grass Tree No. 5  planted in close 
proximity to Gt No. 6
 It seemed  right to keep these two together!

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The Seedlings ... 
As you can see they are doing OK in their pots!

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Grass Tree  No.1

Unfortunately Grass Tree No. 1 died  last year - 2011. 

The plant become scraggly and started to 
brown off, why it died is a mystery to me, 

 I was really sorry to lose 

such a lovely plant from the garden.

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The Tally

In the long interim between the last post and this, 
some little plants have failed to grow well! 
All  are housed in the same location and given similar care!

I guess this is nature at work! 
Some plants thrive and others do not!

Last year 2011 I planted approx  3 new seeds into  1 pot... 
3 germinated = 1 died and 2 grew so my total plants remains  at:

1 plant in a large pot
102 plants in small pots (pictured above)
7 Grass Trees planted in my garden

Cheers Carol

Grass Trees in the wild!
Thanks to my daughter for these photo's of a collection
of resilient Grass Trees living in central Queensland.
As you can see...a dry area, wooded with eucalyptus trees!

A pair if scruffy little ones !
However they have had flower spears and the new growth
in the center looks nice and healthy!

This lovely specimen has been effected by
fire, the old leaves have been cleaned up recently.
This could have been done by a naturally occurring fire
or possibly proactive trickle burning
by the forestry department!

Here you can see 2 old dry flower spears
standing tall above their wizened tree stumps!
Fantastic old warriors of the Australian bush!

A visitor to our suburban yard in North Brisbane!

Thanks to the North Brisbane Koala Rescue Group
who came out late at night (1am) to relocate this
lost and bewildered Koala.
The poor little fellow appeared not to know how
to negotiate the quagmire of suburban fences.
The two ladies who came, gave him an all clear for health
and said he would be relocated to the
closest stand of tall Eucalyptus trees!

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I have been very tardy with my blog...apologies!
My collection of baby plants (102) have all been
growing really well in their shelter,
no fatalities to report!
Cheers Carol

Grass Trees 5 & 6... an Update

I think these plants are now approximately

3 1/2 years old + maybe 1 year...

I'm not sure, I bought them at a garage sale!

These two little ones gave me the idea to try

growing some more plants with the seeds collected from

Grass Tree No.1 growing in my front yard!

An altogether successful venture, both in achievement and results!

This is Grass Tree No. 5 which is still slightly

smaller the the one below!!

Grass Tree No. 6

If you click on this photo to enlarge you can see it has really started

to thicken in the center!

The leaves are very strong and the same thickness as an adult plant.

I haven't decided yet when to plant these two into the garden,

maybe another 6 months!!!

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This beautiful Blue Tongue Lizard

lives just behind our back fence... and came visiting.

No doubt looking for snails, bugs and other garden pests etc.

To read more about these lovely animals click here

After having a look at him we let him go back under the fence

and have seen him a couple of times since going about his business.

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Another lovely Green Tree frog

perched on the spouting...

Nearby an outside light draws small flying insects.

An attraction providing supper!

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Seeds

I have collected seeds from my Grass trees No. 2 & 7 in late 2009...

and I have possibly 100 seeds to Give Away.

If anyone would like to try raising their own little plants!

I am happy to send you some. (Australia only.)

Bearing in mind people...these plants take a long time to grow!

(Although the seeds can be fast to come up - 2-8 weeks)

Perhaps 20 each or less ... depending on response!

(I have no idea about sending seeds OS quarantine etc. so I'll stay out of that!)

I can't guarantee they will be viable seeds,

however I have an idea which ones look goer's by now,

the big fat ones!

Send an email to me with your name and address

and how many you would like!

clockyer@tpg.com.au

Once I have run out of seeds to give that's it.... till next time I get a new crop!

It seems a waste not give these seeds to someone to grow as

I cannot house any more little plants myself...

although I would love to,

I have enough already!

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1 Fatality to report!
I accidentally pulled a little plant out of it's pot ...

The plant had lovely long leaves hanging down and

I caught it on the lid of my rubbish bin!

And hoicked it out of the pot...

broken clean off at the bottom damn!!!

So there are

110 Grass Trees residing at this house!
102 of them seedlings!

Cheers Carol

Illawarra Flame Tree (N)

This beautiful Native Australian tree should be the choice
of local Councils instead of the Poinciana, (E)
although it is lovely! (see previous post)

A link to that great site Wikipedia... here
for more info on the Flame Tree

Our own brilliant flowering red tree has even
inspired a fantastic rock song!
Flame Trees sung by Cold Chisel
A link to Utube here!

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Bougainvillea (E).
This very attractive plant look wonderful decorating
the back fence of a nearby neighbour.
Another link ...hope it works!

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Another neighbour...
this Brushtail Possum jumped off the fence to
escape the human invaders (us) in his area!
The rotten apple he/she dropped was rather horrible!!
A beautiful animal!

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Grass Tree No. 7
This photo of a new spear was taken on the 25/7/o9.
It has taken 5 months for the spear to
reach the seed state you will see in the following photo.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)
Here you can see the little seeds
still sitting in the opened pods.

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No Fatalities to report!
I have collected heaps of seeds from the two prolific
flower stalks mentioned over the last few months!
111 Grass Trees residing at this house!
103 0f them seedlings!

Cheers Carol

Flowering Trees in the neighbourhood.

Delicate flowers on this flowering tree.
I think? it is an Acacia of some sort!
Lovely to see on a morning walk.

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This Lovely Tree is a Poinciana.

Planted many years ago in a nearby council park.
Not native to Australia and in fact now classed as a weed!!!
You can follow this link to read more about
these beautiful trees from Madagascar.


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My New Baby Grass Tree house!

My Man of Work (husband) made this fantastic
purpose built home for my numerous seedlings.
I have moved them to the side of the house so
they can experience more natural weather conditions.
ie. in Aus ...drought and flooding rain!!!
However they do have some shelter from the
worst nature can throw at them
with their own shade cloth covering.

Here they are all lined up, getting used to the elements!

The shade cloth goes across the top
and can be rolled up or down and fits
into metal slots in the front. (left side)

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New to the neighbourhood!
There is another Grass Tree lover in our area,
this handsome plant has recently been planted
in a local front yard.
A conservative estimate would put this
tree at approx 20-25 years old.

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The Tally.
I had a re-count and discovered that I have 103 seedlings.
I must have failed to count some of the new seedlings
which sprouted earlier in the year.
So...
103 seedlings it is.
6 Adults in the garden.
2 youngsters in large pots.
= 111 Grass Trees.

Cheers Carol